Forty-two beaches on one island, the surfing capital of Brazil and Azorean fishing villages.
A whitewashed colonial port between the rainforest and the sea, with schooner trips to the islands.
Spanish moss over 22 squares, antebellum mansions and the Bonaventure cemetery.
The surfing town of the west coast since the 1968 world championships, with winter whales.
Rosewater distilleries, the Fin garden and merchant houses with wind towers on the desert edge.
The Pearl of the South: the striped Parque de Bombas firehouse and the best art museum in the Caribbean.
A cobbled old town on Banderas Bay, humpback whales in winter and the Malecon at sunset.
A colonial centre of pink stone and an 18th-century aqueduct of 74 arches, the safest big city in Mexico.
The 6th-century mosaic map of the Holy Land on a church floor, and Mount Nebo next door.
A Crusader city under an Ottoman city: the Knights Halls, a Templar tunnel and hummus by the port.
The Maya city of sculptors: the hieroglyphic stairway and scarlet macaws in the ruins.
The Inner Harbor, Fort McHenry where the anthem was written and Chesapeake blue crabs.
The Walker sculpture garden, the Mississippi falls and lakes inside the city limits.
The port of Ometepe, an island of two volcanoes in Lake Nicaragua.
Tobacco farms among limestone mogotes, horse rides and the Mural of Prehistory.
The Arch at Land's End where the Pacific meets the Sea of Cortez, sport fishing and whale sharks.
A highland colonial town of Tzotzil markets, amber and the Sumidero canyon nearby.
The Liberty Bell and Independence Hall, the Rocky steps at the art museum, and a cheesesteak.
Talavera tiles, 70 churches, mole poblano and the Popocatepetl volcano on the horizon.
Cuba's first town, cut off until 1965: cacao, coconut cooking and the flat-topped El Yunque.
Saguaro cacti in the Desert Botanical Garden and Camelback Mountain at dawn, before the heat.
The shrine of Imam Reza, the largest mosque complex in the world by area, and twenty million pilgrims a year.
Jellybean row houses, Signal Hill where Marconi received the first transatlantic signal, and icebergs in June.
Geisha coffee farms, the Quetzal trail and the Baru volcano where you can see both oceans.
The largest covered bazaar in the world, a Blue Mosque and the carpet-weaving capital of Persia.
Moose in the suburbs, the Tony Knowles trail along the inlet and the road to Denali.
A Russian wooden mosque built by Dungans, the Sunday animal market and treks to Altyn-Arashan hot springs.
The Arenal volcano, hot springs and hanging bridges through the rainforest.
Thirteen baroque churches of the gold rush on steep cobbled hills, with Aleijadinho’s sculptures.
Adobe architecture, the Georgia O’Keeffe museum and the oldest state capital, at 2,100 metres.
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